Workshop on Lessons Learned:
Participatory Methods in
Action-Bolivia
3-5
March 2004, Cochabamba, Bolivia
 The project Promoting Changes (FoCam, its
Spanish acronym) has been organizing a workshop on "Thinking
about and Reinforcing Participatory Methodologies". FoCam
had organized a series of theoretical courses for 2003 and
a practical activity that concludes with this monitoring workshop.
The workshop aimed to provide:
-
An opportunity for reflection and analysis to formulate
the lessons learned and to improve strategies for applying
participatory methodologies, including those involving
local agricultural research committees (CIALs, their Spanish
acronym) and participatory monitoring and evaluation (PM&E).
- Methodological reinforcements needed by those applying such methodologies.
Workshop participants had the opportunity to share their experiences in applying
participatory tools through presentations on the context of application, difficulties met,
adaptations made, and, finally, the lessons learned.
Contact: Edson Gandarillas, FoCam
Coordinator
People you Ought to Meet
Esmeralda Solarte
 Esmeralda Solarte lives at the Quizgó
Indigenous Reservation, situated in the Municipality of Silvia, Cauca, southwestern
Colombia. This 28-year-old housewife and mother has already spent 10 years of her life in
community work. For the last 4 years, she has played an important role as coordinator of
the Committee for Local Agricultural Research (CIAL, its Spanish acronym) and of a
nongovernmental organization, the Foundation for Popular Communication (FUNCOP).
More information
Workshop on Methodologies for Identifying and
Prioritizing Needs for Technological Innovation in Bolivia
 A workshop on
"Methodologies for Identifying and Prioritizing Needs for Technological Innovation in
Bolivia" was organized by the Directorate for Technological Development (DDT) of
Bolivia, with support from the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT).
The workshop focused on ways of
strengthening institutions responsible for developing agricultural and livestock
innovations in this country.
The event also provided opportunities for sharing and analyzing methodologies and tools to
identify and prioritize needs of rural communities in the areas of influence of the
Foundation for Agricultural Technological Development (FDTA) and the Bolivian System of
Agricultural and Livestock Technology (SIBTA).
More
Information
CIAL Data Base Now On-line (in Spanish only)
Detailed information on more than
270 Committees of Local Agricultural Research (CIALs, their Spanish acronym) in several
Latin American countries has been compiled in a data base that is now available on-line.
Farmers, technicians, rural
communities, and even facilitating institutions will find the information provided on the
different CIAL research projects of interest and useful in their decision-making
processes.
You can consult this data base by
country, by research topic, and by CIAL, or you can cross-reference variables such as
crops, topics, altitude, and country in an advanced search strategy.
Consult the data base.
CIAL Primers On-line
 The collection of 13 primers that deal with the
different stages involved in establishing Local Agricultural Research Committees (CIALs,
their Spanish acronym), a successful method designed by CIAT’s Participatory Research
in Agriculture Project (IPRA), is now available on line in English
and Spanish and can be downloaded in PDF. The PDF file of
each primer includes the English translation of its text.
These primers, which were financed
by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, are
mandatory for those interested in organizing a CIAL.
To order copies, see our product catalog.
World Award for
CIPASLA/ASOBESURCA
 CIPASLA/ASOBESURCA is a consortium of two compound research and
development entities that, with support from CIAT’s Participatory Research
Project (IPRA, it’s Spanish acronym), works to reduce poverty and protect the
environment in the Cabuyal River watershed, in Caldono, Department of Cauca, southern
Colombia. Recently, this consortium won world recognition for its work.
The “Equator Prize”
was created by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Foundation (UNF). It is designed,
through the “Equator Initiative”, to support the World Summit on Sustainable
Development and the Convention on Biological Diversity.
More
information
New Publication on Participatory Research
Investing in Farmers as Researchers: Experience with Local
Agricultural Research Committees in Latin America.
 "This book is about a new kind of institution, one in which
poor farmers take charge of an agricultural research process that benefits both them and
their community". The local agricultural research committee or CIAL (its Spanish
acronym) aims, with the help of trained outsiders, to encourage farmers to conduct their
own agricultural research and to involve their community. This participatory approach is
effective insofar as the CIAL provides results meaningful to the host community. The
methodology is designed to ensure effective training for both farmers and interested
outsiders, and to be relevant to different institutional and cultural settings. The W. K.
Kellogg Foundation supported the project that originally developed the methodology. An
overview is given in English, Spanish, and French. Also available in Spanish.
 Download the
publication (4043 kb)
To order a copy, see our product catalog.
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“When they told us about a possible donation of a maquinita
(little machine), we never imagined that it would be an 8 hp, able to shell 80 bags (about
1 ton) per day. When we saw it, we thought that this wasn’t just for the
village, but for all Caicedonia! We were astounded!” remembered Jhon Jairo
Ramírez, member of a local agricultural research committee (CIAL, its Spanish acronym),
as he spoke of a machine that CIAT offered.
Twenty-one representatives of six organizations that work with small farmers
in Colombia, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Ecuador were trained at the First International
Workshop on Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation (PM&E), held on 1-5 October 2001
in Yoro, Honduras.
With a view to offering strategic training, the Participatory Research in
Agriculture (IPRA Project) held, from 5-10 November, a course-workshop on the Methodology
for Establishing Local Agricultural Research Committees (CIALs). This course-workshop, to
be conducted in the town of El Angel, Carchi Province, Ecuador, had the participation of
international NGOs, governmental organizations, engineers, promoter-farmers, and rural
indigenous organizations who have concrete plans for applying the CIAL methodology to
their communities.